Southampton's second cup tie in five days sees them welcome Championship strugglers Blackpool to St Mary's in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
The Saints enter this encounter off the back of a 1-0 home loss to Newcastle in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final – but they have reached the fifth round of the FA Cup in each of the past two seasons, losing in the quarter-finals last term and the semis the previous year. Nathan Jones' side came from behind to win 2-1 at Crystal Palace in the third round.
Meanwhile, Blackpool are appearing in the fourth round for the second time in three seasons, after thumping Nottingham Forest 4-1 in the last round. The Tangerines haven't made it to the fifth round since 2012 – which is when they also last faced Southampton, recording a 3-0 win over the promotion-bound Saints in the Championship.
Nathan Jones has named the following Southampton starting 11: (4-2-3-1) Willy Caballero; Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Lyanco, Armel Bella-Kotchap, Romain Perraid; Romeo Lavia, Mohamed Elyounoussi; Samuel Edozie, Joe Aribo, Mislav Orsic; Sekou Mara
Mick McCarthy has named the following Blackpool starting 11: (4-4-2) Chris Maxwell; Andy Lyons, Callum Connolly, Charlie Goode, James Husband; CJ Hamilton, Tom Trybull, Charlie Patino, Josh Bowler; Ian Poveda, Jerry Yates
Form
While there have been signs that Southampton have started to turn the corner under Jones, they do still find themselves propping up the Premier League table after losing four of their last five league games. Their three wins since Jones' appointment have each come in a different competition, with the most notable of them a 2-0 triumph over Manchester City in the last eight of the Carabao Cup.
As for Blackpool, who lie second-bottom of the second tier, their third-round victory against Forest was rather a red herring: it was their first win in any competition since the end of October. The Tangerines have drawn four and lost six of their 10 league matches since then, with last Saturday's 2-0 defeat at Watford prompting them to sack manager Michael Appleton.
Referee
Craig Pawson will be the referee for Southampton vs Blackpool.
Stadium
Southampton vs Blackpool will be played at 32,384-capacity St Mary's in Southampton.
Kick-off and channel
Southampton vs Blackpool kick-off is at 3pm GMT on Saturday January 28 in the UK. The game is not being shown live.
In the US, kick-off time is 10am ET / 7am PT. The match will be shown on ESPN+ in the US. See below for international broadcast options.
VPN guide
Use a VPN to watch FA Cup football from outside your country
If you’re out of the country for an FA Cup tie, then you won't be able to watch on your domestic streaming service as usual. The broadcaster knows where you are because of your IP address (boo!) and blocks you from watching it. You can use a VPN to get around that, though, without resorting to illegal feeds you’ve found on Reddit.
A Virtual Private Network (VPN), assuming it complies with your broadcaster’s T&Cs, creates a private connection between your device and t'internet, meaning the service can’t work out where you are and will let you watch. And all the info going between is entirely encrypted, anonymous and safe – and that's a result.
There are plenty of good-value options out there.For the FA Cup, FourFourTwo currently recommends:
ExpressVPN including a 30-day, money-back guarantee FourFourTwo’s brainy office mates TechRadar love its super speedy connections, trustworthy security and the fact it works with Android, Apple, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, PS5 and loads more. You also get a money-back guarantee, 24/7 support and it's currently available for a knockdown price. Go get it!
(Image credit: Future)
International FA Cup TV rights
• UK: In the UK, FA Cup rights are shared between the two main terrestrial broadcasters, the BBC and ITV.
• USA:ESPN+ is the home of the FA Cup in the States.
• Canada: In Canada, Sportsnet NOW is the place to catch the FA Cup action.
• Australia: Paramount+ is where you can watch FA Cup matches in Australia.
• New Zealand: In New Zealand, Sky Sport have the rights to the FA Cup.
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Tom Hancock started freelancing for FourFourTwo in April 2019 and has also written for the Premier League and Opta Analyst, among others. He supports Wycombe Wanderers and has a soft spot for Wealdstone. A self-confessed statto, he has been known to watch football with a spreadsheet (or several) open...
